Rear Engine Seal

[IDave]

Well, kids, I am thinking about buying a friend's FJ62: an 88, as a backup vehicle. She is asking $4000. It is in pretty darn good shape.

Thing is, it leaks oil. Quite a bit judging by the amount of cat litter on her garage floor. Mechanic says it is the rear engine seal.

Now, I hate oil leaks. I know this one isn't dangerous (a quart every 3 months), but I would want to fix it.

How big a job is this? I don't know much about auto trannys and am wondering what it would take for me to do this. Thoughts?

 

[mpetersrx7]

IDave,
First you should clean the area real good to make sure it is the main seal leaking and not the oil pan gasket. The oil pan gasket is fairly easy to replace. The rear main seal I believe you need to pull the tranny to fix.

Mark

 

[swank60]

I"ll second that. I'm not sure why, but the bolts seem to come loose on the oil pans of these things pretty easily. My 60 was leaking like a sieve and I was worried about the front and rear mains. Got up under the truck and started tightening bolts and couldn't believe how loose some of them were.

You might get lucky and that will be all that's leaking. For 4k, it's worth taking a shot.

 

[IDave]

Kinda what I'm thinking. But if it is the rear main like the mech sez, is that something I can do in a day for the price of a seal and greasy hands, or is it going to be a BIG DEAL?

(I think she was told $650 for the job).

 

[Landpimp]

the auto is a big-en but it and the t-case has to come out, not sure how long, I imagine it can be done in a day..

nice thing about the rear main leak on a 62.......it really is nothing more than anoying......it wont mess up a clutch like on a manual.

Me.....as much as I hate leaks I would let it be.....oil is cheap and so is kitty litter

Kinda what I'm thinking. But if it is the rear main like the mech sez, is that something I can do in a day for the price of a seal and greasy hands, or is it going to be a BIG DEAL?

(I think she was told $650 for the job).

 

[jjbodean1970]

you can do the rear main without taking the trans and TC completely out, but it's got to be undone and held in place very carefully out og the way so you can get to the important parts.

it's a big pain, but i just had mine done cause i wanted it to be right

 

[IDave]

Hmm. This isn't sounding good. How much did it set you back to do this, JJ?

 

[jjbodean1970]

not sure exactly, but my experience is not a good judge since i work for a dealer and had one of my techs do the work for me - i only pay $25/hour for labor and 10% over cost for my parts

 

[dd113]

I really, really doubt it is the rear main. It is not a common leak point but it is a common diagnosis for other leaks. The oil from the rear main only has a limited way of leaving the A440F housing. Take off the lower inspection plate and the DS inspection plate. If it is all gooey wit oil you have a rear main or a rear cam freeze plug issue, if not the mech has no idea what he is talking about.

 

[IDave]

Thanks, Dave

I will do that.